Vegan Coquito Recipe (2024)

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By Carine Claudepierre
Published on 11/22/2020 - Last updated on 02/29/2024

4.87 from 110 votes

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💬 19 Comments

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You’ll love this easy Vegan Coquito Recipe with a creamy, sweet rum coconut flavor that is perfect for celebrating Christmas with a tropical touch!

What’s A Coquito?

A coquito is a rum-based Puerto Rican co*cktail with a creamy, sweet texture and tropical coconut flavor.

It’s also known as the Puerto Rican version of eggnog as it’s a traditional Christmas drink in Puerto Rico, just as eggnog is in the USA.

Is The Classic Coquito Vegan?

Unfortunately, no. The classic coquito recipe is not vegan as it’s made with evaporated milk.

To make your own coquito recipe, you need to tweak the original recipe.

Ingredients and Substitutions

A vegan coquito is a dairy-free version of the classic coquito recipe. Since it’s dairy-free, it’s also perfect for anyone with lactose intolerance as it doesn’t include milk.

All the ingredients you need to make a vegan version of a coquito co*cktail recipe at home are:

Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk – you will find this ingredient in a can next to condensed milk in most grocery stores. We recommend using Nature’s Charm’s condensed coconut milk.
Cream Of Coconut – this is not the same as canned coconut cream. Cream of coconut is also found in a can, but it also contains sugar and thickeners that add flavor and texture to the drink. The best vegan brand for this recipe is Coco Lopez, a Puerto Rican brand that makes the co*cktails perfect.
Unsweetened Canned Coconut Milk– I prefer unsweetened, because it makes it easier to adjust the sweetness.
Almond Milk – prefer unsweetened almond milk to avoid adding unnecessary sugar.
Ground Cinnamon and Nutmeg – for classic winter flavors.
Vanilla Extract – for taste.
Shredded Coconut – this is optional, but I love the texture it adds to the co*cktail.
Rum– spiced rum or a combination of rums tastes better. See the note below on how to choose the best rum for coquito.

How To Make A Vegan Coquito

Before you start, make sure you shake all the cans of condensed milk and cream of coconut and coconut milk.

In fact, canned ingredients often separate in the can, fat going on top and liquid at the bottom.

Shaking the cans makes sure that you don’t miss an important part of the product.

Blending Everything

Add all the ingredients into a blender and blend on the high-speed setting until smooth.

Chilling

Place the co*cktail in a glass bottle or jug and chill for 3-4 hours in the fridge before serving.

To make this co*cktail faster, you can also chill the alcohol bottles and cans the day before.

Prepare the co*cktail 30 minutes before serving, chill for 30 minutes, then enjoy.

Swaps And Substitutions

If you can’t find the cream of coconut in the store, you can use the same amount of canned coconut cream.

Storage Instructions

This vegan version of eggnog, also called coquito, doesn’t use egg yolks as classic eggnog.

It means it stores much longer and can be made ahead 2-3 days before.

Store your co*cktail in a glass bottle in the fridge and open it just before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Alcohol Should I Use In Coquito?

The main alcohol used in a coquito recipe is rum.
But to make this flavorsome Puerto Rican eggnog recipe, we recommended using a combination of 3 rums.
– White rum
– Golden rum
– Coconut rum
– Homemade flavored rum
This said, it can be expensive to buy 3 bottles of rum, so another option is simply to use white rum that you infuse with cinnamon sticks and dried raisins.
To flavor your own rum, simply place the ingredients below into a sealed jar in the fridge. Let infuse overnight, filter, and use in co*cktails the next day.
– 1 1/2 cup of white rum
– 1/2 cup of dried raisins
– 2 cinnamon sticks

Is Rum Vegan?

Yes, most rum brands and spirits are vegan-friendly and don’t involve animals in their process.
The only liquors that are not vegan are the ones using honey or cream.

How Should I Serve Your Vegan Coquito?

This co*cktail must be served chilled with a pinch of ground cinnamon on top.
You can also decorate the glass with shredded coconut and add a stick of cinnamon to the glass for extra flavor.

More Vegan co*cktails

For more vegan co*cktails recipes, try some of the below:

Skinny Spicy Margarita recipe

Vegan Horchata

Coconut Margarita Recipe

Raspberry Margarita

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Vegan Coquito Recipe

A creamy vegan coquito co*cktail with sweet coconut flavor perfect to celebrate during the holiday season.

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Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Chill: 4 hours hrs

Total Time: 4 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: American, puerto rican

Servings: 8 servings (7 oz/serving)

Calories: 448.6 kcal

Author: Carine Claudepierre

Ingredients

US Customary – Metric

▢ 1 can Coconut Condensed Milk - (11.2oz)
▢ 1 can Cream of Coconut - (13.5 oz) sweetened coconut cream, see note for unsweetened canned coconut cream option *
▢ 1 can Canned Coconut Milk - (13.5 oz)
▢ ½ cup Almond Milk
▢ 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
▢ ½ teaspoon Nutmeg
▢ 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
▢ 1 cup Dark Rum or Spiced Rum - or 1 1/2 cup for strong co*cktail * see notes for other options

Instructions

In a blender, add all the ingredients sweetened condensed coconut milk, cream of coconut, coconut milk, almond milk rum, vanilla extract, and spices and blend on high speed until smooth – about 1 – 2 minutes.
Chill the co*cktail in the fridge in a sealed glass bottle or jug, for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Before serving, shake/stir. If too thick to your liking, thin with 2-4 tablespoons of extra almond milk, stir to combine, and serve.
Serve in a glass with a stick of cinnamon and a pinch of ground cinnamon.

Notes

Dark rum swap: you can use a combination of the 3 rums below to replace 1 1/2 cup of dark rum and create a much more flavorsome co*cktail:

1 cup white rum
1/2 cup coconut rum
1/2 cup golden/dark rum

Cream of coconut is a sweetened coconut cream made for co*cktails. If you can’t find this in your store, replace it with unsweetened canned coconut cream and add 2-3 tablespoons of maple syrup into the blender to reach the correct sweetness.

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About Carine

Hi, I'm Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, photographer, and published author of a cookbook and founder of The Conscious Plant Kitchen with my husband Damien.Learn more about us.

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19 Comments

Oh wow!!! This is a winning recipe!! Fabulous vegan coquito!! No dairy, and fantastic taste! Perfect consistency and flavor. Creamy, but not too creamy. Even my Puerto Rican friends agreed! They were shocked it was vegan! So hopefully they will start making it this way too! Thank you so much for your great recipe and I look forward to trying your other vegan co*cktails! Ingredients easy to find at Walmart! The coco Lopez is in The co*cktail supply aisle. The almond milk was a great addition for thinning it down a bit! Delicious! Thanks again!
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What do I do with the raisins after I’ve infused my rum?
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- You can drained and keep them in the fridge in an airtight box to make vegan oatmeal raisins cookies
  Reply
I’ll be making coquitos in a few weeks was wondering if I could substitute cream of coconut for real coconut cream syrup instead would like to know if it’s the same amount as the cream of coconut in the can? Thanks!!
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- Cream of coconut is very sweet but also has a creamy texture. I am not familiar with coconut cream syrup, so it is hard to recommend. I would add gradually taste, and adjust. Or try canned coconut cream and syrup
  Reply
The flavor was really great. We had a problem though – When we blended everything, the coconut fat separated and floated to the top. It looked curdled (like little pieces) but it was the fat. We ended up straining it out and scooping it on the pie. None of the other commenters seemed to have this problem so I’m wondering if its something I did wrong. We followed the recipe pretty closely and used captain morgan spiced rum.
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- That’s interesting! this never happened to me ever, I am very wondering what happened and I am so sorry I can’t help more
  Reply
  - This happened to us as well, although it may be because there were shortages so made do with a few substitutions, for example another can of cream of coconut for the condensed milk 🙂 Also did add more almond (soy) milk and maple syrup for our preferred consistency.
    Ended up making it smoother by putting it in a warm water bath until the mixture was still cool but the fat had melted. We still strained it, but most of the fat had blended in. Perhaps due to the substitutions, but we could not chill it as the fat would separate once cooled to a certain temperature.
Never had regular coquito before but my Puerto Rican family said it tastes super close! I did not have a few ingredients because I was looking for options to use up the evaporated coconut milk I used for another recipe.
I ended up doing 1.5 cans of the evaporated coconut milk, 1/2 cup of macadamia nut milk (in place of almond milk) and 6oz. of flax seed milk (in place of the condensed coconut milk), 3tbsp maple syrup, with the vanilla and cinnamon. Set some aside for the kiddo. Then, I accidentally added vodka (Kirkland brand infused with the cinnamon sticks and raisins) instead of rum so I added an additional 3tbsp of maple syrup to sweeten it!
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- Thanks so much for this lovely feedback and also for sharing your idea to make it even better!
  Reply
Delicious!!! I was wondering, how long does it last in the fridge? Thank you for this recipe ❤️
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- Probably 2-3 days if you didn’t add the alcohol yet. co*cktail with alcohol don’t store well because the alcohol separate from the liquid and form layer.
  Reply
Holy sh**
This recipe is a must try. Reminds me of horchata. I thought 1 can of Coco Lopez cream of coconut might be a little too sweet for my taste, plus I took note of someone’s comment saying theirs came out too sweet. I followed the recipe but only used about 1/4 of the can thinking I’ll just add little by little until I get the perfect amount of sweetness. 1/4 of the can was perfect though 🙂
I also took the note that said to use 1 cup of white rum, 1/2 cup of dark rum, and 1/2 cup of coconut rum for better flavor. It did not disappoint.
Best of all, it’s vegan!
I will 100% be making this again. Thank you for sharing!!
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Going to make this! I have everything! I didn’t see shredded coconut in the ingredient list or instructions. Did you blend in or just line the glass rim?
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- Just decorate the glass with it. You can add some in the blender if you like the gritty pieces of coconut but not everyone enjoy it. Enjoy the drink, XOXO Carine
  Reply
Way too sweet. BUT delicious. I cut it half and added an extra can of coconut milk. Next time I’ll leave out the homemade condensed coconut milk. Plenty of sugar between rum and cream of coconut;) thank you for putting this recipe out there… I want to try chocolate and or hot;) thanks again!
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- This is the best dairy free coquito over ever made! Yum! I added about two tablespoons more almond milk to thin it out a bit and set aside 8 oz for my son. Them I added the cup and a half of good ol Barcadi white rum. Perfect! Very authentic like my mom used to make!
  Reply
- I am sorry you found it too sweet to your taste. You can always add more coconut milk to dilute the co*cktail as you said. Thanks for the review, XOXO Carine
  Reply
I love it, it was very sweet as an authentic coquito I used to drink before going dairy free. I used 1 cup white rum + 1/2 cup rum spiced rum. Thanks for sharing with us,
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